-
Entangled Life
- How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures
- Narrated by: Merlin Sheldrake
- Length: 9 hrs and 32 mins
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy for $28.00
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Other Minds
- The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness
- By: Peter Godfrey-Smith
- Narrated by: Peter Noble
- Length: 7 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Although mammals and birds are widely regarded as the smartest creatures on earth, it has lately become clear that a very distant branch of the tree of life has also sprouted higher intelligence: the cephalopods, consisting of the squid, the cuttlefish, and above all the octopus. In captivity, octopuses have been known to identify individual human keepers, raid neighboring tanks for food, turn off lightbulbs by spouting jets of water, plug drains, and make daring escapes.
-
-
suprisingly deep
- By V on 05-24-17
-
Braiding Sweetgrass
- Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants
- By: Robin Wall Kimmerer
- Narrated by: Robin Wall Kimmerer
- Length: 16 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As a botanist and professor of plant ecology, Robin Wall Kimmerer has spent a career learning how to ask questions of nature using the tools of science. As a Potawatomi woman, she learned from elders, family, and history that the Potawatomi, as well as a majority of other cultures indigenous to this land, consider plants and animals to be our oldest teachers.
-
-
Finally, Words
- By Donovan P Malley on 06-30-19
-
Finding the Mother Tree
- Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest
- By: Suzanne Simard
- Narrated by: Suzanne Simard
- Length: 12 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Suzanne Simard is a pioneer on the frontier of plant communication and intelligence; her TED talks have been viewed by more than 10 million people worldwide. In this, her first book, now available in audio, Simard brings us into her world, the intimate world of the trees, in which she brilliantly illuminates the fascinating and vital truths—that trees are not simply the source of timber or pulp, but are a complicated, interdependent circle of life.
-
-
Couldn't finish, will try the hard copy
- By primrose on 07-22-21
By: Suzanne Simard
-
Gathering Moss
- A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses
- By: Robin Wall Kimmerer
- Narrated by: Robin Wall Kimmerer
- Length: 7 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Living at the limits of our ordinary perception, mosses are a common but largely unnoticed element of the natural world. Gathering Moss is a beautifully written mix of science and personal reflection that invites listeners to explore and learn from the elegantly simple lives of mosses.
-
-
Pure lovely, insightful and inspired
- By J Dowling on 03-16-19
-
The Hidden Life of Trees
- What They Feel, How They Communicate - Discoveries from a Secret World
- By: Peter Wohlleben
- Narrated by: Mike Grady
- Length: 7 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
How do trees live? Do they feel pain or have awareness of their surroundings? Research is now suggesting trees are capable of much more than we have ever known. In The Hidden Life of Trees, forester Peter Wohlleben puts groundbreaking scientific discoveries into a language everyone can relate to.
-
-
I feel bad for trees that grow alone now.
- By BEAR on 01-23-17
By: Peter Wohlleben
-
How to Change Your Mind
- What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence
- By: Michael Pollan
- Narrated by: Michael Pollan
- Length: 13 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Michael Pollan set out to research how LSD and psilocybin (the active ingredient in magic mushrooms) are being used to provide relief to people suffering from difficult-to-treat conditions such as depression, addiction, and anxiety, he did not intend to write what is undoubtedly his most personal book. But upon discovering how these remarkable substances are improving the lives not only of the mentally ill but also of healthy people coming to grips with the challenges of everyday life, he decided to explore the landscape of the mind in the first person as well as the third.
-
-
Personal
- By Robert F. Jones on 09-02-18
By: Michael Pollan
-
Other Minds
- The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness
- By: Peter Godfrey-Smith
- Narrated by: Peter Noble
- Length: 7 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Although mammals and birds are widely regarded as the smartest creatures on earth, it has lately become clear that a very distant branch of the tree of life has also sprouted higher intelligence: the cephalopods, consisting of the squid, the cuttlefish, and above all the octopus. In captivity, octopuses have been known to identify individual human keepers, raid neighboring tanks for food, turn off lightbulbs by spouting jets of water, plug drains, and make daring escapes.
-
-
suprisingly deep
- By V on 05-24-17
-
Braiding Sweetgrass
- Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants
- By: Robin Wall Kimmerer
- Narrated by: Robin Wall Kimmerer
- Length: 16 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As a botanist and professor of plant ecology, Robin Wall Kimmerer has spent a career learning how to ask questions of nature using the tools of science. As a Potawatomi woman, she learned from elders, family, and history that the Potawatomi, as well as a majority of other cultures indigenous to this land, consider plants and animals to be our oldest teachers.
-
-
Finally, Words
- By Donovan P Malley on 06-30-19
-
Finding the Mother Tree
- Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest
- By: Suzanne Simard
- Narrated by: Suzanne Simard
- Length: 12 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Suzanne Simard is a pioneer on the frontier of plant communication and intelligence; her TED talks have been viewed by more than 10 million people worldwide. In this, her first book, now available in audio, Simard brings us into her world, the intimate world of the trees, in which she brilliantly illuminates the fascinating and vital truths—that trees are not simply the source of timber or pulp, but are a complicated, interdependent circle of life.
-
-
Couldn't finish, will try the hard copy
- By primrose on 07-22-21
By: Suzanne Simard
-
Gathering Moss
- A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses
- By: Robin Wall Kimmerer
- Narrated by: Robin Wall Kimmerer
- Length: 7 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Living at the limits of our ordinary perception, mosses are a common but largely unnoticed element of the natural world. Gathering Moss is a beautifully written mix of science and personal reflection that invites listeners to explore and learn from the elegantly simple lives of mosses.
-
-
Pure lovely, insightful and inspired
- By J Dowling on 03-16-19
-
The Hidden Life of Trees
- What They Feel, How They Communicate - Discoveries from a Secret World
- By: Peter Wohlleben
- Narrated by: Mike Grady
- Length: 7 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
How do trees live? Do they feel pain or have awareness of their surroundings? Research is now suggesting trees are capable of much more than we have ever known. In The Hidden Life of Trees, forester Peter Wohlleben puts groundbreaking scientific discoveries into a language everyone can relate to.
-
-
I feel bad for trees that grow alone now.
- By BEAR on 01-23-17
By: Peter Wohlleben
-
How to Change Your Mind
- What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence
- By: Michael Pollan
- Narrated by: Michael Pollan
- Length: 13 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Michael Pollan set out to research how LSD and psilocybin (the active ingredient in magic mushrooms) are being used to provide relief to people suffering from difficult-to-treat conditions such as depression, addiction, and anxiety, he did not intend to write what is undoubtedly his most personal book. But upon discovering how these remarkable substances are improving the lives not only of the mentally ill but also of healthy people coming to grips with the challenges of everyday life, he decided to explore the landscape of the mind in the first person as well as the third.
-
-
Personal
- By Robert F. Jones on 09-02-18
By: Michael Pollan
-
This Is Your Mind on Plants
- By: Michael Pollan
- Narrated by: Michael Pollan
- Length: 7 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Of all the things humans rely on plants for - sustenance, beauty, medicine, fragrance, flavor, fiber - surely the most curious is our use of them to change consciousness: to stimulate or calm, fiddle with or completely alter, the qualities of our mental experience. Take coffee and tea: People around the world rely on caffeine to sharpen their minds. But we do not usually think of caffeine as a drug, or our daily use as an addiction, because it is legal and socially acceptable.
-
-
This is a clip show.
- By Jeff W. on 07-07-21
By: Michael Pollan
-
I Contain Multitudes
- The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life
- By: Ed Yong
- Narrated by: Charlie Anson
- Length: 9 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Joining the ranks of popular science classics like The Botany of Desire and The Selfish Gene, a groundbreaking, wondrously informative, and vastly entertaining examination of the most significant revolution in biology since Darwin - a "microbe's-eye view" of the world that reveals a marvelous, radically reconceived picture of life on Earth.
-
-
Fantastic Mix of Information & Description
- By Versh on 09-02-16
By: Ed Yong
-
In Search of Mycotopia
- Citizen Science, Fungi Fanatics, and the Untapped Potential of Mushrooms
- By: Doug Bierend
- Narrated by: René Ruiz
- Length: 12 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The book introduces us to an incredible, essential, and oft-overlooked kingdom of life - fungi - and all the potential it holds for our future, through the work and research being done by an unforgettable community of mushroom-mad citizen scientists and microbe devotees. This entertaining and mind-expanding journey will captivate listeners who are curious about the hidden worlds and networks that make up our planet.
-
-
Very informative but with some additional caveats
- By Guttzs on 03-18-21
By: Doug Bierend
-
Food of the Gods
- The Search for the Original Tree of Knowledge : A Radical History of Plants, Drugs, and Human Evolution
- By: Terence McKenna
- Narrated by: Jeffrey Kafer
- Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Terence McKenna hypothesizes that as the North African jungles receded, giving way to savannas and grasslands near the end of the most recent ice age, a branch of our arboreal primate ancestors left the forest canopy and began living in the open areas beyond. There they experimented with new varieties of foods as they adapted, physically and mentally, to the environment. Among the new foods found in this environment were psilocybin-containing mushrooms.
-
-
Not a scientific book
- By Jason on 06-06-19
By: Terence McKenna
-
Second Nature
- A Gardener's Education
- By: Michael Pollan
- Narrated by: Michael Pollan
- Length: 9 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In his articles and in best-selling books such as The Botany of Desire, Michael Pollan has established himself as one of our most important and beloved writers on modern man's place in the natural world. A new literary classic, Second Nature has become a manifesto not just for gardeners but for environmentalists everywhere.
-
-
The garden will always be a work in progress...
- By dancer on 03-20-15
By: Michael Pollan
-
Mycophilia
- Revelations From the Weird World of Mushrooms
- By: Eugenia Bone
- Narrated by: Aimee Jolson
- Length: 11 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Mycophilia, accomplished food writer and cookbook author Eugenia Bone examines the role of fungi as exotic delicacy, curative, poison, and hallucinogen, and ultimately discovers that a greater understanding of fungi is key to facing many challenges of the 21st century.
-
-
Absolutely awful, insufferable, racist author
- By Rs 🦇 on 11-25-19
By: Eugenia Bone
-
The Heartbeat of Trees
- Embracing Our Ancient Bond with Forests and Nature
- By: Peter Wohlleben
- Narrated by: Mike Grady
- Length: 7 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Heartbeat of Trees, renowned forester Peter Wohlleben draws on new scientific discoveries to show how humans are deeply connected to the natural world. In an era of climate change, many of us fear we’ve lost our connection to nature - but Peter Wohlleben is convinced that age-old ties linking humans to the forest remain alive and intact. We just have to know where to look.
-
-
Nurture the Heart
- By T. Harrison on 07-20-21
By: Peter Wohlleben
-
Never Home Alone
- From Microbes to Millipedes, Camel Crickets, and Honeybees, the Natural History of Where We Live
- By: Rob Dunn
- Narrated by: Sean Patrick Hopkins
- Length: 9 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A natural history of the wilderness in our homes, from the microbes in our showers to the crickets in our basements Even when the floors are sparkling clean and the house seems silent, our domestic domain is wild beyond imagination. In Never Home Alone, biologist Rob Dunn introduces us to the nearly 200,000 species living with us in our own homes, from the Egyptian meal moths in our cupboards and camel crickets in our basements to the lactobacillus lounging on our kitchen counters. You are not alone.
-
-
The most astonishing book I've read this decade!
- By Paula on 04-17-19
By: Rob Dunn
-
Soul of an Octopus
- A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness
- By: Sy Montgomery
- Narrated by: Sy Montgomery
- Length: 9 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sy Montgomery's popular 2011 Orion magazine piece, "Deep Intellect", about her friendship with a sensitive, sweet-natured octopus named Athena and the grief she felt at her death, went viral, indicating the widespread fascination with these mysterious, almost alien-like creatures. Since then Sy has practiced true immersion journalism, from New England aquarium tanks to the reefs of French Polynesia and the Gulf of Mexico, pursuing these wild, solitary shape-shifters.
-
-
Fun fluffy
- By mars on 04-27-18
By: Sy Montgomery
-
The Mushroom at the End of the World
- On the Possibility of Life in Capitalist Ruins
- By: Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing
- Narrated by: Susan Ericksen
- Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Matsutake is the most valuable mushroom in the world - and a weed that grows in human-disturbed forests across the northern hemisphere. Through its ability to nurture trees, matsutake helps forests to grow in daunting places. It is also an edible delicacy in Japan, where it sometimes commands astronomical prices. In all its contradictions, matsutake offers insights into areas far beyond just mushrooms and addresses a crucial question: what manages to live in the ruins we have made?
-
-
so much to tell about a mushroom
- By G B. on 08-19-19
-
The Body
- A Guide for Occupants
- By: Bill Bryson
- Narrated by: Bill Bryson
- Length: 14 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bill Bryson once again proves himself to be an incomparable companion as he guides us through the human body - how it functions, its remarkable ability to heal itself, and (unfortunately) the ways it can fail. Full of extraordinary facts (your body made a million red blood cells since you started reading this) and irresistible Bryson-esque anecdotes, The Body will lead you to a deeper understanding of the miracle that is life in general and you in particular. As Bill Bryson writes, "We pass our existence within this wobble of flesh and yet take it almost entirely for granted."
-
-
Must Read for the Sheer Fun of It
- By J.B. on 10-16-19
By: Bill Bryson
-
The Order of Time
- By: Carlo Rovelli
- Narrated by: Benedict Cumberbatch
- Length: 4 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In lyric, accessible prose, Carlo Rovelli invites us to consider questions about the nature of time that continue to puzzle physicists and philosophers alike. For most listeners, this is unfamiliar terrain. We all experience time, but the more scientists learn about it, the more mysterious it appears. We think of it as uniform and universal, moving steadily from past to future, measured by clocks. Rovelli tears down these assumptions one by one, revealing a strange universe where, at the most fundamental level, time disappears.
-
-
Rovelli is a Genius
- By Mike on 05-11-18
By: Carlo Rovelli
Publisher's Summary
International Bests Seller
“Merlin Sheldrake’s marvelous tour of these diverse and extraordinary life forms is eye-opening on why humans should consider fungi among the greatest of earth’s marvels.... Wondrous.” (Time)
A mind-bending journey into the hidden universe of fungi, “one of those rare books that can truly change the way you see the world around you” (Helen Macdonald, author of H Is for Hawk).
Named One of the Best Books of the Year By Time • BBC Science Focus • The Daily Mail • Geographical • The Times • The Telegraph • New Statesman • London Evening Standard • Science Friday
When we think of fungi, we likely think of mushrooms. But mushrooms are only fruiting bodies, analogous to apples on a tree. Most fungi live out of sight, yet make up a massively diverse kingdom of organisms that supports and sustains nearly all living systems. Fungi provide a key to understanding the planet on which we live, and the ways we think, feel, and behave.
In Entangled Life, the brilliant young biologist Merlin Sheldrake shows us the world from a fungal point of view, providing an exhilarating change of perspective. Sheldrake’s vivid exploration takes us from yeast to psychedelics, to the fungi that range for miles underground and are the largest organisms on the planet, to those that link plants together in complex networks known as the “Wood Wide Web”, to those that infiltrate and manipulate insect bodies with devastating precision.
Fungi throw our concepts of individuality and even intelligence into question. They are metabolic masters, earth makers, and key players in most of life’s processes. They can change our minds, heal our bodies, and even help us remediate environmental disaster. By examining fungi on their own terms, Sheldrake reveals how these extraordinary organisms - and our relationships with them - are changing our understanding of how life works.
Shortlisted for The British Book Award • Longlisted for The Rathbones Folio Prize
“Entangled Life is a gorgeous book of literary nature writing in the tradition of [Robert] Macfarlane and John Fowles, ripe with insight and erudition.... Food for the soul.” (Eugenia Bone, Wall Street Journal)
“[An] ebullient and ambitious exploration.... This book may not be a psychedelic - and unlike Sheldrake, I haven’t dared to consume my copy (yet) - but reading it left me not just moved but altered, eager to disseminate its message of what fungi can do.” (Jennifer Szalai, The New York Times)
Critic Reviews
"Fungi are fascinating! Elegant life strategies meet with delicate omnipresence, driving global ecosystems. Sheldrake's book informs and offers new concepts. Looking through Sheldrake's lens, fungal biology integrates with art, philosophy, and human society. His voice is real and personal. His book educates and entertains." (Uta Paszkowski, professor of plant molecular genetics, University of Cambridge)

Editor's Pick
More from the same
Author
Narrator
What listeners say about Entangled Life
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Cephalopods Revenge
- 05-12-20
Mycology for Everyone
Call me a biased Mycophile, but this was such a great book.
I preordered it, and downloaded as soon as it was available.
The pictures Merlin paints with his words are fantastic, not to mention his wonderfully soft voice that makes for easy listening. (Maybe don’t listen at night while driving, could be mistake for a lullaby).
A perfect book for the times of isolation and quarantine as it fills our minds with the childlike excitement of discovery in our neighboring woods.
35 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Stacy Martin
- 06-18-20
So good that I went and bought the book too!
First, Mr Sheldrake has a lovely, mesmerizing voice and pleasant cadence to his reading. The content is very rich and detailed, so several times I re-listened to parts just to retain as much as I could. It’s a great mix of natural history, scientific discovery, human culture and Sheldrake’s musings on how it’s all interwoven and dependent on mycelium-but yet still mysterious and emanating wonder. Didn’t want it to end!
25 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Elan Sun Star
- 06-20-20
Brilliant and insightful! plant wisdom and science
What an incredible book /audiobook. I have read 40 books on this subject but this is quite the best.. and very accessible.
From a family of plant wise elders (Rupert Sheldrake) and a very worthy leader in the field. With a fantastic narration voice and the insights from a lifetime of observation fosters by his Dad , Rupert Sheldrake , this book incorporates many of the essential wisdom needed to solve some of the most challenging issues of our time.
it is an amazing and rich compilation of philosophy and biocentrism and biophilia
I highly suggest this book
23 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Gerald Albertson
- 06-27-20
Unusually marvelous
One of the most fascinating books I have ever listened to. Sheldrake voice is made for audio books. His voice is soothing and captivating. And the subject of fungi has so much depth we doubtless will be part of its story as technology begins to unlock wonderful secrets from a life form we know so little about. In my top 10 of all time.
17 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Karinka
- 07-06-20
Fascinating insight into a hidden world
I am an educated medical professional who had no idea that the mycelial internet existed until a couple of years ago when I saw a popular film about the life of mushrooms. This wonderful book blows open one’s doors of perception with an amazing depth and breadth of information I never knew that I needed to know. Wow! Great book, highly recommend for the scientifically curious and lovers of the earth.
13 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- C Jewell
- 07-24-20
Incredible
This is one you'll listen to over and over again. Then you will try endlessly to figure out how to get Merlin's beautiful voice to narrate your dreams.
7 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Richard
- 07-08-20
Intriguing book, poor narration by author
A fascinating book about fungi. The author constantly finds way to shift your anthropocentric perspective. Unfortunately the author, Merlin Sheldrake, is not a professional reader and has a monotone voice that detracts from the experience rather than, as a good narrator does, adds to it. I still recommend the book, as it is so unusual and informative.
7 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Ran Away
- 06-18-20
Beautiful and Informative
Wonderfully written and read! You’ll learn about fungi, be confronted with ambiguities and complex relationships, while enjoying poetic metaphors that bring the ideas to life and closer to home
5 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Than
- 04-18-21
Help Cordyceps Taking Hold...
I've been infected with the first human cordyceps fungus wow it feels so good! and this review is to tell you that Mushroom Book is also good. Listen to Mushroom Book. Mushroom book will spread newfound love for fungus and provide substrate for spreading spores even further.
End of communication.
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Kyle Wilson
- 10-19-20
Fascinating!
Absolutely loved this book. What a cool perspective on the world we live in. If you’re even remotely interested in plants, trees, mushrooms, or any aspect of the systems and structures that make up planet earth, you will love this book.
4 people found this helpful